Tiger on loose spotted near Disneyland Paris

PARIS (TIP): French authorities say a young tiger is on the loose near Disneyland Paris, one of Europe’s top tourist destinations, and have urged residents in three towns to stay indoors. The town of Montevrain sent out a news alert on its Facebook page Thursday saying a young tiger was spotted in the brush behind some tennis courts and a soccer field. The field is about 9 kilometers (5 1/2 miles) from Disneyland Paris.

Around 60 police, fire and other security forces were trying to track the tiger, said Cedric Tartaud, chief of staff for the Montevrain mayor. The tiger is estimated to weigh around 70 kilograms (154 pounds), Tartaud said. Police were using a helicopter to help search for the animal, and a wolf-catcher was also drafted in to aid in the search, Seine-et- Marne authorities said. Police and rescue squads at the scene have roped off a security perimeter, authorities added and urged people living in Montevrain, Chessy and Chalifert to remain indoors. If they had to travel, police advised them to stay in their cars.

The Parc des Felins, a wild cat animal park about 18 miles from Montevrain, said in a statement on its web site that all of its animals were accounted for and the escaped tiger didn’t come from there. EuroDisney, the operator of Disneyland Paris, said it has no tigers in the theme park, so the errant cat could not have come from them either. It wasn’t immediately clear if any extra precautions had been taken inside the park. Disneyland Paris calls itself Europe’s No. 1 tourist destination with 14.9 million visits in 2013.

Police hunt for tiger on the loose near Paris Police and firefighters were desperately hunting for a tiger on the loose near Paris Thursday after a local resident spotted the fearsome animal in a car park and sounded the alert, authorities said. Backed up by a helicopter overhead, firefighters armed with tranquilising guns were mobilised for the search in the Seine-et- Marne district near the French capital. “We have been running after it since this morning, police officers are trying to intercept it,” a police source said.

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